"I Am Here for You": beautiful words by Robert Lax

Robert Lax was an American poet, a convert from Judaism to Catholicism, and a friend of Thomas Merton. In his work Psalm, he includes these words, which (to me) can be read in several ways: as the commitment of a friend to a friend, or the prayer of a soul to God:

"I am here for you. I have no other person to be here for and no other reason to be here. I am here at your disposal. Your disposition. I have no desire except to do what you'd have me do. I have heard of other desires. I haven't heard of any that mean as much to me as that. Haven't heard of any that would mean as much to me as knowing I was doing what you wanted me to do. Or even not knowing I was doing it. Simply doing it.”

—from Psalm by Robert Lax (Zurich: Pendo, 1991).

Here's a Prayer Resource to Try: Daily Office Booklets from Rookie Anglican

--by Deacon Josh Steele

In the weeks leading up to Advent 2016, I had a problem.

I was serving as a youth pastor at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham, AL, and I wanted to challenge my students to try to do the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer for the four weeks of Advent. 

However, I faced a small crisis of user-UNfriendliness!

• First, none of my students were familiar enough with using the 1979 Book of Common Prayer to realistically use it for the Daily Office during Advent.
• Second, the ACNA's new Daily Office liturgies and lectionary were only available as confusing PDFs and Word Documents.
• And third, although there were/are great apps out there for the Daily Office, I wanted to give my students an analog way to pray.

So, I created a "Daily Office Booklet"—a simplified version of the offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, with the readings listed out for you, so that you just need your Bible and a Booklet to do the Daily Office.

I've continued to make these Daily Office Booklets ever since, and I offer them to you as a potentially helpful aid to your prayer life. 

If you're interested in the Daily Office Booklet, go here to learn more.

Children at Savior

People often comment to me about the children at Savior: “I love how the kids are so included” or “Pastor Mary gets my kid.”

What’s behind those comments is a deep commitment to children and youth. I was trying to explain this at our Welcome to Savior dessert recently, and here’s what I came up with (on the fly, so much more could be said):

* We take children’s spiritual lives seriously. They are not just “the church of the future” but “the church of now.” They experience God and pray and take in the Word of God. In our ministry to them, we don’t think, “How do we entertain them?” (not that fun is bad) but “How do we guide them in their spiritual lives?” A child this Saturday, in the younger room, commented on the mystery of Ascension, “Jesus went away so that he could be with us always, at all times and everywhere.” "

* We involve them throughout our life together. As our staff plans, we make sure the children and youth are fully participating with us—as musicians, acolytes, dancers, Bible dramatists, worshipers, missionaries. They help teach all of us, lead us, add to our joy. As Pastor Mary says, "When we don’t find ways to integrate children into the life of the church, the church misses out. Our worship can become too heady, our fears grow out of proportion. We need to be reminded that God has asked us to cling to our unyielding child-like faith that God can do it all; that God loves us; that God, in his very mysterious way, is truly with us, even in us."

I am thankful for Pastor Mary, for youth mentor Rick Page, and for the many of you who serve our children and youth.

--Fr. Kevin

What's Great about our Diocese: C4SO

Our church family, Anglian Church in North America, is organized by dioceses, many geographical (e.g., Western Gulf Coast) and some, like ours—called Churches for the Sake of Others--non-geographical. Thus, we in C4SO have 40-some churches across the country, from Boston to LA, and from Oregon to Florida. (If you wondered, our nearest church is in Milwaukee.) Our bishop, Todd Hunter, lives in Southern California. 

Having just attended the C4SO clergy conference, I have to say, we are in the perfect diocese for Church of the Savior. (Thank you, Fr. Bill, Mtr. Linda, and the Vestry who helped us move into C4SO!) Here are some reasons why:

1. We have a godly bishop with a huge heart for people. That’s why he named his diocese Churches for the Sake of Others. He gets made fun of for this name, but I love it. It captures our heart at Savior, too, which is why (for just one example) you all gave so generously to help single moms at Jubilee Village.

2. We have a canon theologian, Scot McKnight, who uses his prodigious scholarship to serve the church.

3. We have a welcome and respect for women leaders.

4. We have the freedom and encouragement to try varied and creative ministries, from fledgling church plants to long-established churches with buildings, from missions to Spanish-speaking moms in Kansas City, KS, to coffee-shop ministry reaching “spiritual but not religious” folks in California. Many dioceses ask their churches to contribute 10% of their operating budgets; but Bishop Todd says, “Send me only 5%, and I’ll figure out how to run a diocese on less, so you can invest the other 5% in local mission and church planting."

I could go on, but let me simply say, one of the best things about being an Anglican church is that you are connected to other churches and under authority. And when those churches and authority are filled with the Holy Spirit, it is a great gift to us all.

--Fr. Kevin

Meet Our New Pastor of Adult Formation

I’m delighted that because of your generous giving, we are able to add a dedicated pastor of adult formation. Starting May 1, Sandy Richter—who has served so ably in Savior’s children’s ministry for 3 years—will be giving 10 hours per week as Pastor of Adult Formation. Sandy will be helping all of us adults at Savior in (a) forming community, (b) understanding and practicing our faith, and (c) because weekly worship is the most formative thing we do, guiding the leaders of our worship-service teams. Sandy lives in Oak Park, with husband, Ian, and their children, Kiah, Elle, and Ezra. She is finishing an MA in theology. Sandy says, “My passion is helping walk alongside people as they work out their faith in their everyday life.” If you want to connect with Sandy: SandyRichter@friendsofthesavior.org.

--Fr. Kevin